Wadia Marraoui is a strategic Human Resources leader with over 16 years of experience spanning the United Nations system, humanitarian organisations, and the private sector.
She currently serves as Head of Human Resources at The American University of Rome, where she leads strategic HR initiatives supporting organizational effectiveness, talent management, employee relations, and institutional development.
Prior to joining AUR, Wadia worked with the United Nations-World Food Programme (WFP), including assignments at WFP Headquarters in Rome as a Staff Relations Officer. In this role, she supported employee relations, policy interpretation, conflict resolution, workplace well-being initiatives, and organizational projects at the global level. Throughout her tenure with WFP, she also served as Head of HR Operations covering the Syria, Lebanon, Türkiye, and Jordan corridors, while acting as Project Coordinator for organizational alignment and restructuring initiatives. She provided strategic HR leadership for a large and geographically dispersed workforce operating in complex humanitarian environments, with responsibilities spanning HR operations, workforce planning, talent management, employee relations, organizational restructuring, and change management.
Before joining WFP, she spent several years with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), where she played a key role in supporting rapid organizational growth and workforce expansion across Syria. Earlier in her career, she held progressively senior HR positions in the telecommunications sector with Syriatel, leading large-scale recruitment, workforce planning, and talent acquisition initiatives.
Wadia holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Human Resources Management and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP®) as well as a Certified HR Manager (CPD, UK). Her expertise includes strategic HR management, organizational development, employee and staff relations, change management, workforce planning, talent acquisition, organizational restructuring, emergency response leadership, and HR operations in complex and multicultural environments. She is passionate about building resilient organizations, developing talent, and driving positive organizational change.